Dehradun: The Uttarakhand government on Wednesday cleared a proposal to amend the state's Freedom of Religion Act to make forced conversion a cognizable offense with a provision for 10 years imprisonment on the lines of a similar law in neighboring Uttar Pradesh. The proposal was approved in the cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Wednesday.
The bill relating to the amendment to the Uttarakhand Freedom of Religion Act, 2018, which aims at strengthening the importance of every religion will be presented in the house in the coming assembly session, sources said.
Also read:Church vandalised in Uttarakhand’s Roorkee, alleging 'religious conversions'
Under the amended rules, conversion of two or more people will be considered as a mass conversion and will be treated a serious crime. There is a provision of 10 years imprisonment under the new law while a fine of up to Rs 25,000 can also be imposed. In case of consensual religious conversion, the permission of the District Magistrate, which had to be taken 7 days in advance has now been increased to a month.
The anti-conversion amendment comes over a month after a group of miscreants vandalised a church in Solanipuram of Roorkee, Haridwar, alleging that the church promoted religious conversions. More than a dozen people were injured in the incident. The attackers alleged that the Christian missionaries and worshippers were carrying out religious conversion of some Hindus in the name of charity and religious gatherings.
